09/04/2008 (1:12 am)
Boeing machinists vote on contract, urged to strike
Almost 27,000 Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) workers are set to vote on the plane maker’s latest three-year contract offer on Wednesday, urged by their union to reject it and walk off their jobs at midnight, raising the possibility of the fourth Boeing strike in 20 years.
If members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) — mostly based in Boeing’s commercial plane plants in the Seattle area — do shut down operations, it would cost the company $3 billion in revenue per month as customers’ planes sit on the production lines.
It would also put a dent in the U.S. economy, swelling jobless claims and increasing inventories at major Boeing suppliers like Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc (SPR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Rockwell Collins Inc (COL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Goodrich Corp (GR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). If airlines are put off buying new planes, it would also cut durable goods orders.
Voting at union halls in the Seattle area opened at 5 a.m. local time (8:00 a.m. EDT), and will continue until 6 p.m. A result is expected from 8 p.m. (11:00 p.m payday loans. EDT), after local votes and those from Boeing’s smaller plants in Wichita, Kansas and Portland, Oregon are tallied.
BEST AND FINAL
Boeing’s best and final three-year contract offer includes a 5 percent wage increase for the first year, plus 3 percent hikes for each of the remaining two years. The company said those increases, along with new incentive plans, will add about $34,000 over the life of the contract to the average machinist, who makes about $55,000 a year before overtime or about $65,000 after overtime.
The company, which has offered to bus workers to union halls to vote, is also proposing a one-time 6 percent lump sum payment and an additional $2,500 bonus if the contract is approved on Wednesday.
The IAM has slammed the contract terms, saying it reduces benefits, shifts more health care costs onto workers, and doesn’t address job security or outsourcing issues. Union leaders are encouraging members to reject the terms of the contract and vote in favor of a strike, which would start just after midnight.
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